The arts in church
I was in town the other day to see the doctor, while waiting for my lift to turn up I went to have a look around a Salvation Army opshop. There I found this brilliant clown scarf for a dollar and I just had to have it. The only problem being I didn’t have a dollar, but I did have my juggling balls. So I stood out side the shop and juggled until I could find some one that would give me a dollar. It took about ten minuets, many walked passed claiming to have no money on them, like there going to go to the shop with no money. But then some young woman stopped and gave me a dollar, she went all as a quiver as the handed me the coin, I think she liked what she saw. I took the dollar and went into the shop to buy the scarf. After receiving the prize I asked.
“What did you think of the show?”
“What do you mean?”
“What I was doing out the front there?”
“Asking people for money, that’s not good, we weren’t impressed.”
Now I was being very cheeky there, I wasn’t in costume, I was unshaven and I didn’t ask any one if I could do it. But did I earn that dollar, did I give a dollars worth of joy to the young lady that gave it to me? Well I would say I did, if God had not meant me to do things like this why would he have given me the skills to do so. God meant me to have that scarf and I did God’s will by doing what was necessary to attain it. I believe that God gave me an artistic nature, a creative spirit that enables me to achieve things that leave most people baffled.
But it would seem that the church is loosing its artists. It started in the fifties and sixties. The artists went New Age and the Christians stopped encouraging there children in the arts. Sex drugs and rock and roll has been around since time inmorium, it used to be called wine women and song. But there were other artists that sought a more spiritual life and up until this time they would find it in the church. After the atrocities committed by Hitler in the second world war a religion that said that all the other religions were going to Hell, was not only offensive, but seen as dangerous. Up sprung the New Age, a bounty for the inquisitive mind. People taking up Buddhism and Taoism and reviving Pagan rites. There’s even some crackpots that think they have turned into Hindus. There are outbreaks of UFO’s and alien abductions as people start to believe in science fiction.
The artistic temperament tends to be more inquisitive, open to new ideas and curious of differing cultures.
“I don’t care about there different looks
Different looks are good for me
I don’t care about there different books
Different books are good for me.” Lines from some song.
The bulk of artists I know who pursue a spiritual life, do so threw eastern religions or the New Age. Bringing up my Christian faith among them often arouses suspicion. “Don’t worry I’m not going to tell you to go to Hell, I don’t get into that part.” I respond to there cringe. Then I go on to explain my faith, if they want to know.
It is clear that the faith has had some truly great artists over the years. This period of minimalisum in the church is just a trend. I believe in time the artists will turn back to the faith and the churches will wake up to the fact that having people concentrating on the ascetics of life makes for a better world.
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Clown Artist Philosopher 